The Impact of Ultraviolet Light on Survival and Behavior of the Human Bed Bug, Cimex lectularius Linnaeus

The dramatic resurgence of bed bugs in the United States poses significant problems for individuals, public health officials, and the pest control industry. Currently no individual control measure, chemical or otherwise, has proven to be one hundred percent effective in the removal of bed bugs from domestic structures. Alternative methods of control are needed to aid in a broader removal strategy. Ultraviolet light as a control tactic for arthropods is a new concept only now being explored. UV light is known to damage DNA; however, its various effects on arthropods have not been well documented. This study examines the impact of ultraviolet light on bed bug survival and behavior, and is a first step in determining the potential of ultraviolet light as a control measure. Two developmental stages of Cimex lectularius, the egg and the first nymphal instar, were exposed to ultraviolet light for periods of 1, 2, 5, or 10 sec at a distance of 4 cm. A dose response curve was created by calculating mortality following an interval of 2 weeks. Behavioral observations were also conducted to assess the effects of UV exposure on the host-seeking abilities of first instar nymphs. Nymphs were exposed for periods of 5 or 10 sec then released to search for a human host from a distance of 34 cm. The success rates and search times were recorded. Results of both experiments indicate UV light negatively impacts bed bug survival and host-seeking abilities.No embarg

Novos Dilemas sobre Ciências na Gestão Universitária: os Comitês de Ética na Experimentação com Animais

Um dos grandes desafios contemporâneos nas universidades brasileiras tem sido a implantação, a gestão e a interpretação dos Comitês de Ética, notadamente os comitês ligados aos experimentos com animais. No último quarto do século XX, diferentes situações expuseram de forma contundente um novo posicionamento quanto à questão da dominação sobre os animais. Algumas entidades de preservação e conservação da natureza passaram a denunciar de forma sistemática os abusos causados aos animais selvagens, especialmente os que se encontravam ameaçados de extinção eminente. Um marco foi a promulgação em 1978 da Declaração Universal dos Direitos dos Animais, pela Unesco em Bruxelas, Bélgica. Nesta Declaração o homem tem responsabilidade sobre a vida e bemestar das demais espécies do planeta, tornando os animais sujeitos de direito, qualidade que era até então apenas dos humanos

Quantum Circuits for Quantum Channels

We study the implementation of quantum channels with quantum computers while minimizing the experimental cost, measured in terms of the number of Controlled-NOT (C-NOT) gates required (single-qubit gates are free). We consider three different models. In the first, the Quantum Circuit Model (QCM), we consider sequences of single-qubit and C-NOT gates and allow qubits to be traced out at the end of the gate sequence. In the second (RandomQCM), we also allow external classical randomness. In the third (MeasuredQCM) we also allow measurements followed by operations that are classically controlled on the outcomes. We prove lower bounds on the number of C-NOT gates required and give near-optimal decompositions in almost all cases. Our main result is a MeasuredQCM circuit for any channel from m qubits to n qubits that uses at most one ancilla and has a low C-NOT count. We give explicit examples for small numbers of qubits that provide the lowest known C-NOT counts.Comment: 6(+4) page

Fleroxacin (Ro 23-6240): activity in virtro against 355 enteropathogenic and non-fermentative Gram-negative bacilli and Legionella pneumophila

The antibacterial activity of fleroxacin (Ro 23-6240, AM-833), a new 6-fluoroquinolone, was determined against 149 strains of enteropathogenic bacteria (17 species) and 191 strains (28 species) of glucose non-fermentative Gram-negative rods (excluding Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and against 15 strains of Legionella pneumophila. The cumulative susceptibility of these groups of bacteria to Ro 23-6240 at the 2 mg/l level were 99.2% 80.1 and 100% of tested strains, respectivel

A Portuguese study on building renovation towards a nearly zero energy building (nZEB)

The social and environmental urgency of large-scale integrated retrofitting of the European residential building stock is widely acknowledged and supported by all Member States. However, the European building sector is currently still not able to offer an integral solution for deep renovation toward nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) for reasonable costs. MORE-CONNECT project aims to tackle this issue by developing cost optimal solutions to renovate buildings towards nZEB. In this project, the optimal solutions include the development of prefabricated, multifunctional renovation elements for the total building envelope (façade and roof) and installation/building services. This paper presents the first stage of the project, namely the analysis and comparison of three scenarios following the current national requirements in Portugal i) 80% reduction of the current primary energy consumption of the building, ii) cost optimal solution (nZEB) and iii) net zero energy (NZEB). The optimization of the building envelope will be the main driver for the three scenarios as well as the inclusion of renewable energy strategies. Overall, results suggest that it is possible to achieve cost-effective solutions for the renovation of Portuguese residential buildings. Moreover, the cost-optimal solution (scenario ii) matches approximately with the 80% reduction of energy scenario (scenario i).MORE-CONNECT is funded by the European Commission within the framework of the Horizon 2020 progra

Soluções de reabilitação de fachadas como contributo para assegurar os nZEB – um caso de estudo em Portugal

O sector dos edifícios é o maior consumidor de energia final na União Europeia. Isto deve-se ao facto de a maioria dos edifícios apresentar um fraco desempenho térmico da envolvente. O parque edificado da União Europeia é, na sua maioria, anterior a 1960, de uma época pautada pela ausência de regulamentos de eficiência energética e em que as questões relacionadas com o consumo de energia e as emissões de carbono não assumiam a premência que apresentam na atualidade. A reabilitação energética apresenta-se hoje como a ferramenta mais eficaz para fazer face ao desafio de melhorar o desempenho energético do parque edificado existente. Servirá não só para atingir as ambiciosas metas de redução de consumo energético até 2020 e 2050 como para garantir um ambiente construído de qualidade e sustentável. Com taxas de construção nova muito reduzidas, a reabilitação é uma solução alternativa que apresenta inúmeras vantagens e é cada vez mais reconhecida como o futuro no sector dos edifícios. A revisão da diretiva Europeia relativa ao desempenho energético dos edifícios introduziu o conceito de edifício de necessidades quase nulas de energia (nZEB) e a obrigatoriedade de todos os edifícios novos após 2020 serem nZEB. Da mesma forma, também o conceito deverá ser aplicado aos edifícios existentes, adaptando-os para nZEB, através da reabilitação energética. Estes edifícios apresentam um desempenho energético muito elevado, sendo que as reduzidas necessidades energéticas que apresentam devem ser asseguradas em grande parte por energia proveniente de fontes renováveis, produzida no local ou nas proximidades. Complementarmente, as soluções nZEB devem obedecer a critérios de racionalidade económica. Para tal, a Comissão Europeia desenvolveu um quadro metodológico aplicável a todos os Estados Membros, que permite a identificação e análise dos níveis ótimos de rentabilidade do desempenho energético dos edifícios. O presente estudo enquadra-se no âmbito do projeto Europeu More-Connect que se centra no desenvolvimento de elementos modulares prefabricados de reabilitação energética para atingir edifícios nZEB. É apresentada a análise preliminar de três cenários de reabilitação energética aplicados ao caso de estudo em Portugal e o desenvolvimento inicial de um elemento prefabricado de reabilitação de fachada.Projeto Europeu H2020-EE-2014-2015/H2020-EE-2014-1-PPP, grant agreement no 633477, “MORE-CONNECT – Development and advanced prefabrication of innovative, multifunctional building envelope elements for Modular Retrofitting and smart CONNECTions

Investigating the impact of Cp-T values determined by DSC on the PCM-CFD Model

For the numerical analysis of Phase Change Material (PCM) enable energy storage based heating/cooling technologies, thermo-physical properties of PCM are very important inputs. It is of vital significance to thermal characterise of PCM to obtain phase change temperature range and the relationship of specific heat capacity with temperature (Cp-T). This is simply done by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Present paper highlights the importance of experimental heating rate in thermal characterisation of PCM. It has been observed that the heating/cooling rate plays an important factor in studying numerically the charging/discharging behaviour of a PCM. Firstly the recommended heating/cooling rate of 10 °C/min stated in ASTM D 4419 is used for the DSC, followed by the rate of 0.2 °C/min observed in the experimental testing. The phase change temperature range and the Cp-T curves have been determined for the both heating/cooling rates. An experimentally validated CFD model has been developed aiming to predict the thermal performance of PCM and the air outlet temperatures. The effective heat capacity method is applied including the Cp-T obtained from the DSC for both rates. Similar heating rate, as per experimental testing, established significant improvements in the validation results when applied in a CFD model.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Option Pricing using Quantum Computers

We present a methodology to price options and portfolios of options on a gate-based quantum computer using amplitude estimation, an algorithm which provides a quadratic speedup compared to classical Monte Carlo methods. The options that we cover include vanilla options, multi-asset options and path-dependent options such as barrier options. We put an emphasis on the implementation of the quantum circuits required to build the input states and operators needed by amplitude estimation to price the different option types. Additionally, we show simulation results to highlight how the circuits that we implement price the different option contracts. Finally, we examine the performance of option pricing circuits on quantum hardware using the IBM Q Tokyo quantum device. We employ a simple, yet effective, error mitigation scheme that allows us to significantly reduce the errors arising from noisy two-qubit gates.Comment: Fixed a typo. This article has been accepted in Quantu